Joys of Life
by kira66
Summary: CharlieDani story. This has been bouncing around in my head for a while now so I thought it was time to put it on paper.


Lieutenant Karen Davis clutched her cup of coffee as she stepped off the elevator and into her squad room. The first thing she noticed was the silence; even this early in the morning the room was usually filled with Detectives coming and going, not caring how loud they were being. The Second thing she noticed as she got closer to her office was the looks she was receiving from some of the older Detectives; Detectives she had known for a good many years. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob when someone called her name, sighing she turned to face whoever it was.

"Before you go in there, Lieutenant, there's something you should know." Detective Ronald Gregor had pulled the short straw so to speak. Shifting from foot to foot, he tried to draw her away from office so that they could speak in private. Unfortunately, she wasn't having any of it.

"What is it, Gregor?" Lieutenant Davis clutched her coffee tighter, lucky for her it was in a metal cup or else it would have ruptured from the pressure she was putting on it. "Well? Spit it out!" It wasn't even ten yet and she already felt a headache forming just behind her eyes. Damn.

Clearing his throat, the relatively new Detective plunged into the conversation no one wanted to have with the hard ass Lieutenant. "You have a visitor, ma'am. Well, two visitors actually but one had to take a phone call so you only have one visitor at the moment." He quickly babbled then turned and quickly made his retreat to the far side of the squad room, where his desk was located.

Lieutenant Davis blinked as the young man quickly darted to the other side of the room, he even tripped over an open desk drawer on his way. "Visitors, huh?" She mumbled to herself, turned, threw open the door, then stepped inside. She was never one to put off the inevitable. Taking a moment to prepare herself for whoever was _visiting_ her at such an early hour, she hung up her coat then preceded to her desk. Once she was seated and had taken a sip of her coffee, she surveyed the room. If she hadn't just swallowed the hot liquid, she would have surely spit it out because there, sitting in front of her desk, was Detective Dani Reese. A woman had disappeared, along with her eccentric partner, over five years ago. "Dani?" She asked not truly believing her eyes.

"Lieutenant." The woman acknowledged that she was, indeed, Dani Reese.

"What...how...your father..." Lieutenant Davis had no idea what to say and it showed.

Dani gave her former Lieutenant a sarcastic smile. "My father has not worried one iota about me." Her statement sounded sure, final. "Oh, I'm sure he put on a good enough show when everyone noticed we had left. But I doubt that it was out of real concern for my well being but more to discredit Charlie further in the eyes of the police department."

Lieutenant Davis winced at the tone Dani was using. So she finally knew the truth about her father? "We? As in you and Detective Crews?"

"Yes, we as in me and Charlie." Dani's smile turned soft, genuine. "He didn't force me to go. Actually, it was my idea and he indulged me." She knew what her former Lieutenant was thinking.

"Really? You're idea? And why did you want to leave?" Lieutenant Davis wanted to know.

Dani shifted in her chair, making herself comfortable to the following explanation. "Everything we do is futile, but we must do it anyway." She spoke the words softly, almost like a caress.

Lieutenant Davis froze at the clearly Zen saying. "What did he _do_ to you?" She asked in disbelief not believing that she had willing left with former convict turned Detective Charles Crews.

"Charlie didn't do anything to me." Dani defended then turned her head as a barely audible sound caught her attention. A large smile blossomed on her face and she bent over the chair beside her. "Good morning, sleepyhead." She whispered as she moved her coat to the back of the chair and picked the groggy toddler up, he had been covered by the coat, and cradled him in her arms.

All words died in her throat as she watched Dani bend over the chair beside her and _speak_ to it. Lieutenant Davis was just about to write her off as looney when she straightened up with a child, a _child!_, in her arms. "Dani?" She questioned.

Ignoring the Lieutenant for the moment, Dani focused on the gradually awakening boy. "Did you have a nice sleep?" She asked as he buried his head in her neck. When he shook his head, she chuckled. "It was a long car ride, wasn't it?" She soothed and rubbed his back then refocused on the other occupant of the room. "Lieutenant?"

"Who is that?" Lieutenant Davis asked trying not to sound demanding.

"This?" Dani rubbed his back again. "This is my son." She locked eyes with the older woman and dared her to challenge that.

Lieutenant Davis swallowed hard. "Son? Your son? How?"

Dani chuckled and gave her a sly grin. "The same way others create children, I would imagine. So you need me to explain the joys of life to you?" She asked, innocently.

"You're out of line, Detective!" Lieutenant Davis snapped then squeezed the bridge of her nose. Taking a breath to calm herself, she decided to try again. "What I meant was, who's his father?"

"That would be me, Karen!" An overly joyful voice called from the doorway as Charlie Crews stepped into the office, large smile planted firmly on his face. "Wow, you haven't changed." He turned to Dani. "She hasn't changed, has she?"

"Nope." Dani replied as she stood and handed the now wide awake toddler off to his father. "He's kinda grumpy." She warned.

Charlie smiled as the boy was placed in his arms. "That's okay. Everybody's allowed to be grumpy."

Lieutenant Davis stared with mouth wide open as the two former partners interacted with each other. "Crews." She greeted once she found her voice. "Care to explain to me what the _hell_ is going on?!"

"If knowledge does not liberate the self from the self, then ignorance is better than such knowledge." Charlie chirped as he began to pace around the office. "Short story is that I told Reese about her fathers involvement in my false imprisonment. Distraught, she asked me to help her get away for awhile. What kind of a partner would I have been if I had just left her go, alone? So I went with her. And now here we are." He grinned as the boy in his arms turned to look at the strange woman.

"And the child?" Lieutenant Davis prompted not liking the short version.

Dani shrugged. "I got to know him while we were away and liked what I saw. I asked him to marry me a year later and a year after that Justice was born."

Lieutenant Davis sat back in her chair. "You asked him to marry you?" It didn't surprise her in the least. Looking away from Dani she focused on the black haired little boy. She almost gasped when crystal blue eyes, so much like his fathers, locked with hers. "Justice, huh?"

"It was a fitting name for our son." Dani said with a smile. "Listen, we only came back to show people that we're fine. We don't need finding or rescuing. We just want left alone, understand? Call off the search, Karen, please?"

"You're father won't be too happy if I do." Lieutenant Davis told her. "He won't be too happy about this latest development either." Her eyes moved from the boy to Dani then back to the boy.

Charlie moved to stand beside Dani, her hand intertwined with his. "Then don't tell him."

Lieutenant Davis signed and looked from person to person. "You truly happy, Dani?" She asked.

Dani nodded her head. "What more could I ask for?"

"Alright." Lieutenant Davis what else could she do? The whole squad had seen that they were okay. "It was good seeing you again, Dani."

"You too." Dani tugged her husband towards the door of the office and stepped out before him.

Lieutenant Davis stood up and followed them. "What have you two been up to, anyways?" She asked Charlie since Dani was halfway to the elevators.

"Civilian life." Charlie answered and followed Dani into the elevator and back to their lives.

Snorting, Lieutenant Davis shook her head. "Civilian life, indeed." She mumbled then headed back into her office to call off the search for Dani Reese and Charles Crews. They didn't need to be found after all. They were right where they were suppose to be.


End file.
